Destination In Reverse
by StarAngel148
Summary: They do it all out of order, but the important thing is the ultimate destination- that, they get right. AU Forwood one-shot.


**Disclaimer: Vampire Diaries, still not mine.**

**A/N: Here's the Forwood I promised. Another one's in the works, but I was suppose to be writing the second chapter of a Sam/Quinn story, so don't expect that on until next week- possibly the week after that (first week of March). Enjoy and review!**

**Destination In Reverse**

_There was a specific order to things: First comes love, then comes marriage, finally a baby in a baby carriage._

**_I: Baby_**

Tyler Lockwood gets Caroline Forbes pregnant when he's 15 and she's 14 and a half. They're a mistake that was never meant to happen, but he his date ditches him and hers spills a drink on her brand new top, which she bitches about for the rest of the night. Tyler thinks back to that and wonders what life would be like if everything had happened differently.

"I'm pregnant."

Tyler almost drops the books he's holding and he feels the panic on his face.

"Okay?" He keeps staring at Caroline, waiting for her to get to the point.

Caroline scoffs and flips her hair, like she's barely interested in the conversation they're having.

"It's yours." Flits her eyes to his and adds as an afterthought. "Idiot."

For a second, Tyler wonders which arm tingles when you're having a heart attack. How is he going to tell his parents? He can already imagine he's father's scowl and his mother's disappointment.

"What are we going to do?" He whispers, mostly to himself, but Caroline hears as well.

This time she does have a reaction and proceeds to slap his chest repeatedly.

"What do you think I'm going to do you idiot?" She hisses. "I'm going to find a discreet clinic and take care of your demon spawn."

He remembers right then that Caroline is way older than her years, and if there was anyone who could handle a situation like this it's her.

"And I need money to do it."

He nodded like the moron he has become since the conversation started.

"I'll get it to you, tomorrow morning. Promise." He's still nodding and he's started fumbling his books.

Caroline sneers at him and her gaze clearly read, 'how could I let _you_ ever touch _me_?' before she storms away.

He blurts it out to his parents the next night at dinner.

"Caroline's pregnant."

His father instantly clenches his jaw and his mother starts bawling before running out of the room. He can still hear her sobs as his dad yelling at him. When his father leaves the room, he thinks his parents are conferring over a punishment until Sheriff Forbes arrives with a scowl and a sulking Caroline in tow.

The grown-ups have a hushed conversation in the living room, while Caroline applies another coat of Misty Rain and steady ignored all attempts he makes at conversation.

When the adults march in like a squadron, Caroline caps her nail polish and shifts in her seat. He straighten in his chair.

"Here's what we're going to do…"

Whenever his mother takes that tone Tyler knows there's a plan in place.

"Since we don't know how far along Caroline is, we should start there. Then review our options."

Caroline's not really paying attention, probably thinking about the new cheerleading routine and Sheriff Forbes is glaring so hard that Tyler's not paying attention either.

"Then we can look into discreet clinics," Tyler reads abortion. "Or adoption." He sees strangers raising a mini-Tyler Lockwood. "Or maybe even keeping it in the family." He hears people calling his son, his brother.

All options suck.

"I'm not losing my figure." Caroline chirps in. "Abortion it is." She claps her hands like everything settled and walks out, Sheriff Forbes trailing after her.

His father doesn't speak to him for weeks, his mother spends as long treating him like he's five, tucking him in and pinching his cheeks. He becomes a womanizer and excels in football. Caroline struts around the school like she's queen and only glares at him when their eyes meet. Sheriff Forbes makes sure to be harder on him from then on.

_**II: Marriage**_

Tyler's still happily unattached when he graduates from UCLA with a business and political science degree. Since he was born his parents have had his life all figured out- college, marriage, political career in Mystic Falls, then two point five kids running around the Lockwood mansion.

So he's unsurprised when after moving back home, his parents spring the idea of marriage on him. They tell him they expected him to find himself a "good, respectable woman to support his political career", but since he didn't they've found a suitable alternative.

"Caroline? As in Forbes?"

When his father only nods and his mother starts rattling off color schemes, he thinks he might be in a coma and he's imagining this.

"You want me to marry Caroline Forbes?" He knows he keeps repeating that sentence over and over again, but he can't help it.

When his brain starts functioning again the only other question he can think of is, "How is she still single?"

His mom laughs. "Is that the only other question you have?"

"She's a catch son. You're luck no one else scored her before this." He hates when his dad uses that phrase. And he hates how obvious his father makes it known that he's checked out Caroline before. His mother apparently is oblivious.

"Does she know about this?"

'And if she does, than how on earth can she agree to this?' He wonders.

He gets his answer the next day when he corners Caroline during lunch at the Grill.

"You're really going along with our parent's harebrained scheme?"

She wipes her mouth and then smiles at him, as if she's just noticed him.

"Tyler! Hi, how are you?" He can hear the falseness pour out of every word.

He glares at her.

"Me? I'm swell. Just graduated from NYU, top of my class." She continues the conversation on her own.

"What'd you major in? Bitch and gold-digging?" He snarks back.

"At least I'm clean." She answered coldly. "Who knows about you."

He laughs, then leans forward and so does she.

"Our parents want us to marry!" He whispers harshly to her.

"I know." She hisses back. "I don't have much of a choice. If I have a choice, I'd never choose you."

He thinks he should be offended, but he'd not. They're Frenemies at best.

"Same here sweet lips."

"Do the pet names really work on any of those girls you pick up?"

He smirks at Caroline. "All the time. I'm a catch Forbes."

She rolls her eyes and smiles genuinely at him for the time in years.

"We might as well make some backhanded deals of our own. If we're going to be stuck in hell."

He nods and they start planning what their marriage will be like. Discreet cheating, public adoration, two kids. He gets to make all the financial decisions, she deals gets to decorate the house and organize parities. They split the parental decisions.

They get married seven months later. All the people deemed important by Carol Lockwood, and the few people Caroline managed to weasel on the guest list, attend. In front of two hundred people, including the Virginia senator- he's not's sure how his parents managed that one- Tyler Richard Lockwood marries Caroline Elizabeth Forbes.

"You almost sounded sincere when you promised to love, honor, and cherish me."

She looks at him beneath thick lashes and takes a sip of champagne, then smirk.

"As did you. I thought about tearing up, but I thought it might be overkill."

They exchange smiles and people watch for a while. They indulge in all the wedding traditions with feigned gusto, and by the end of the night all their guests are convinced it's a love match.

That night for the first time in eight years Tyler sees Caroline naked. He briefly wonders what she'd look like swollen with his child.

_**III: Love**_

They play the role so well, they have it down to an art. She's the perfect politician's wife and all the ladies on the Founder's Council sigh dreamily when Caroline brings up her husband. They have become the standard for a happy marriage to which other couples aspire.

Caroline gets pregnant one year into their marriage. It happens purely by accident- he never used protection when they slept together and she was switching birth control brands. At first, the idea of a child is "nauseating" to Caroline.

"It wasn't fun the first time." Caroline points out.

"That was a long time ago." Tyler reminds her. "Believe me, Caro, this is will be a good thing."

She still looks skeptical.

"What can be better than a real-live doll you can dress up in cute outfits?"

She knows what he's doing and despite his attempt to be neutral about the topic she can see happiness waiting to burst forth. Suddenly she'd excited for his sake.

She claps her hands like joy. "This could be fun." He nods. "It'd be like an accessory we can tote around."

Tyler's glad her enthusiasm matches his own and he starts planning- blue walls, cloud on the ceiling, white crib, elephant stuffed animals and mobiles. Caroline imagines green walls, a safari theme and yellow oneies with cute polar bears on them. Their dreams never come true. She loses the baby six weeks in, after she trips over a discarded pair of shoes and falls down the stairs.

"Caroline." When she didn't acknowledge him, Tyler sighed and stepped into the room. "Caroline, you can't just lay in bed for the rest of your life."

She doesn't move. After many different tactics to pull her out of her depression, he attempts the one he had yet to try. He climbs into bed with her and supports her, his arms around her waist. His face pressed into her back.

He stays there for hours, in silence, until Caroline shifts around until their noses are pressed together.

"Thanks, Tyler." Her eyes are puffy and her voice scratchy, but she's still beautiful to him. "Aren't you mad at me? It's my fault you know, that we lost the baby." He can tell she's bracing for an argument and for his reproach.

Instead his kisses her on the lips, for the first time not in-public, and hugs her to his chest. Tyler spends the entire night murmuring reassuring words to make her understand that he's not mad.

"We can try again." She nods against the crook of his neck.

"Yeah."

It takes months, but eventually Caroline's smiling again and Tyler realizes that her being happy makes him happy.

"So sexy vampire or slutty nurse?"

Tyler looks up from the paperwork his dad said was urgent to look at his wife.

"What?"

"Sexy vampire," She holds up one hand. "Or slutty nurse?" Holding up the other hand. "For the Halloween party at the Grill."

Tyler ponders the question for a minute before deciding to switch gears. "I'm going to have to bring a very big stick to beat all the guys off you."

She gives him a saucy grin and squeal when he bolts out of his chair to chase after her. He ends up cornering her in the wine cellar and she casually, jokingly whispers 'I love you.'

Tyler freezes and Caroline panic, she didn't mean to say it. What on earth had just come out of her mouth? She mentally slaps herself and waits for the inevitable letdown. It never comes. Instead Tyler smiles and pronounces loud and clear, "I love you too." Then kisses the hell out of her. Tyler never make a choice in costume for Caroline to wear, they never make it to the Halloween party.

They spend the next couple of months in a "honeymoon" phase, all over each other all over Mystic Falls and Tyler gets many stern lectures on propriety from his father. Deputy Williams arrests them for public exposure and exposure one night, and her mother grudgingly lets them out at three in the morning, even though she'd just gotten after an eighteen hour shift.

"I think we should try for another baby."

Caroline stops in the middle of rinsing her hair and stares at Tyler as he lathers his.

"You want to try again?" She asks.

He nods.

"Even after what happened the first two times, you still want a baby with me?" She pretty sure she's cry, but Tyler doesn't mention it so she ignores it too.

He leans over and pecks her on the lips. "Of course. Who else would I have them with?"

Next thing he knows Caroline's legs are around his waist and she kissing the life out of him. Everything is right in the world.

Tyler and Caroline Lockwood are expecting five weeks later. Joshua Michael Lockwood is born two weeks early and Caroline freaks out when the contractions start. She spends the last trimester of her pregnancy bed ridden and Tyler worries that something's wrong. After thirty-two hours of labor, their gift from God is a perfect mixture of the two.

Joshua is spoiled rotten for years by his parents and grandparents; Grandpa Lockwood buys him a pony- despite Caroline's protests-, Grandma Lockwood buys him ice cream for dinner, Grandma Forbes intimidates bullies for him, Tyler spends hours practicing football with him when Joshua boosts his ego "about learning from the greatest", and Caroline lets him get away with breaking her two thousand dollar Ming Dynasty vase when he flashes her those puppy dog eyes and pretends to cry when he apologizes.

When Joshua is five, Nadia Mackenzie Lockwood came into their lives. Followed the next year by the twins; Lacey Marie and Faith Valerie Lockwood. They have their last child, Greyson Maxwell Lockwood, is a surprise and Caroline threatens to castrate Tyler she got pregnant again.

They may have done all wrong and out-of-order, but they're happy and that's all that matters.

**The End**


End file.
